Tired of talks, CPN-M, allies to step up stir

KATHMANDU, AUG 26 -
Following futile talks with major political forces, the CPN-Maoist and allies plan to announce next phase of protests within a couple of days to foil the upcoming Constituent Assembly election.

Dissident groups in the Mohan Baidya-headed 33-party alliance have expedited intra-party and cross-party discussions to set a future course of agitation after the alliance’s Saturday meeting unanimously endorsed stern anti-poll measures.

The meeting decided to adopt a “tit-for-tat” strategy in response to the High-level Political Committee’s and the government’s refusal to settle the differences through talks. Leaders said a meeting of the alliance scheduled for Tuesday is likely to endorse fresh protest programmes.

CPN-Maoist leaders say the upcoming round of protests will be more rigid than its ongoing programmes. The party, along with likeminded smaller forces at places, has been holding door-to-door campaigns in all the electoral constituencies across the country to appeal to the general public to boycott the polls.

CPN-Maoist Secretary Dev Gurung said the upcoming stir will be an extension of the ongoing protests even though they will undergo changes in the days ahead. He said protests will concentrate on electoral constituencies as earlier. Leaders said the campaign will have activities such as youth mobilisation and bhandafor (expose) programmes to prepare ground for a decisive struggle against the November polls. The awareness campaign will end on August 31.

Central Committee member Sudip Malla said preparations are over to wrap up the campaign with a youth march across the Valley. The rally, to begin at New Baneshwor, will go round the Capital on August 30. “The parade is expected to give a message to the general public against the polls. Party cadres and leaders representing all the constituencies in the Capital will join the rally,” said Malla, who is assigned to head Constituency No 1 in the Capital. Sources said the party has completed preliminary work for the formation of an anti-poll structure. Central members are deployed to take change of such activities in the Capital.

Chaitanya Subba, chief of the Social Democratic Party, said the alliance plans to behave as the four parties and the government act. The alliance charged the HLPC with making efforts to defer the polls to uncertainty by shying away from dialogue. The focus will shift from public awareness and civil warning to organising people against the polls, said Subba.

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